Yvette Higgins

A $4 billion higher education budget bill passed by the Minnesota House cuts funding for a program that supports student-parents. 

The Student-Parent Support Initiative (SPSI), passed in the 2023 legislative session, gives money to programs that help students with children succeed in higher education through one-on-one support, emergency grants for unexpected medical bills, childcare support, scholarships and more. 

Twenty-three percent of undergraduate students at Minnesota colleges and universities are parents, and nearly half of them are single mothers, according to a 2020 report from the Center on Equity in Higher Education. 

As the Legislature assembles a new two-year budget for public safety needs, some lawmakers are concerned that crime victims and incarcerated people will not get the help they need due to limited funding. 

The $3.66 billion budget bill that the House debated on April 25 increases state spending for the next two years by $50 million for public safety and $30 million for courts.  But state agency officials and even the bill’s authors say the increase isn’t enough to maintain some current services.

Minnesota House Democrats blocked a Republican-backed bill that would have given millions to “crisis pregnancy centers” that discourage patients from getting abortions. 

House File 25 by Rep. Natalie Zeleznikar, R-Fredenberg Township, would have granted $3 million in fiscal years 2026 and 2027 to crisis pregnancy centers, which offer services to pregnant women while dissuading them from turning to abortions. 

The bill would have provided an additional $1 million in the same years to maternity homes, which are group housing centers where women with nowhere else to go can live if they are pregnant or just gave birth. 

Minnesota House Democrats blocked a Republican-backed bill that would have given millions to “crisis pregnancy centers” that discourage patients from getting abortions. 

House File 25 by Rep. Natalie Zeleznikar, R-Fredenberg Township, would have granted $3 million in fiscal years 2026 and 2027 to crisis pregnancy centers, which offer services to pregnant women while dissuading them from turning to abortions. 

The bill would have provided an additional $1 million in the same years to maternity homes, which are group housing centers where women with nowhere else to go can live if they are pregnant or just gave birth. 

After more than 80 years, the Legislature appears poised to change a rule that restricts the kind of firearms that deer hunters can use in large parts of Minnesota. 

A bill by Rep. Chris Swedzinski, R-Ghent, would allow people to hunt deer in any part of the state with any legal firearm. 

Currently hunters are limited to using only shotguns, muzzleloaders and handguns in southern Minnesota. Rifles are commonly used by hunters in northern Minnesota and most other states. 

Some Republicans in the Minnesota House are pushing to make financial aid scholarships available only to students who are on a track to enter into high-demand careers in Minnesota. 

North Star Promise provides financial aid to low-income Minnesota residents studying at any Minnesota State College or University, University of Minnesota campus, or Tribal college if students meet certain conditions.

If a bill by Rep. Ben Bakeberg, R-Jordan, becomes law, only students enrolled in high-demand programs would be eligible to receive the North Star Promise scholarship.

Lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle are pushing for improved attendance reporting in schools to address frequent absences among Minnesota students.

A bill by Rep. Heather Keeler, DFL-Moorhead, and Rep. Ben Bakeberg, R-Jordan, would require schools to quickly report when students miss several consecutive days, change the age when a child is responsible for his or her own attendance and correlate attendance with standardized test scores.

As Minnesota appears poised to issue licenses to retailers to legally sell marijuana, some lawmakers are proposing changing cannabis regulations to improve access to medical marijuana and strengthen communication with Native American tribes. 

A bill by Sen. Scott Dibble, DFL-Minneapolis, to increase patient access to medical marijuana cleared the Commerce and Consumer Protection Committee last week, and a companion bill also cleared a House committee. 

Republican state lawmakers approved a pair of bills in a House committee last week to weaken restrictions on some uses of what are known as forever chemicals.

The proposed changes are aimed at Amara’s Law, which passed in 2023. The law restricted the use of toxic chemicals called PFAS in products including upholstered furniture, cleaning supplies and menstrual products with the goal of limiting intentionally added PFAS in commercial and industrial products by 2032. 

Rural Minnesotans often face long wait times when calling 911, and some state  lawmakers are looking to change that. 

A bill by Rep. Natalie Zeleznikar, R-Fredenberg Township, would establish a grant program to help rural emergency medical service companies that are losing money. Zeleznikar said in an interview that people in Greater Minnesota have trouble getting EMS efficiently because ambulances have to cover larger areas.